The Aloegenian Rift
by MarisPallitax
Summary: A story about Ace after her adventures with the Doctor. She attempts to visit to WWI but someone makes a rift, forcing her to investigate.
1. The Vortex

**Disclaimer: I do NOT own Ace, although the rest of the characters are MINE! All mine, and I'm keeping them in my pencil case!**

**Mwahahahahahahahahahah! Ha!**

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Some say she'd died. Some say she was just watching. Nobody knew. Nobody cared. The truth was She was Time's Vigilante. A lone spectre, watching over time itself. Nothing could change under her watchful eye. She would patrol time, a time hopper attached to a motorbike. She was a human Time Lord, and her name was Ace. Ace had never liked her home. She didn't care if her family never remembered her, she didn't even care if **he** forgot her, but she could watch for all eternity and he never would. She started out as the Doctor's companion, but now she _was_ the Doctor (on a much smaller scale). This wasn't just a job; it was her life. She was the Universe's protector.

Ace was battling herself. She knew she had to go, but she didn't want to.

"You have to!" she told herself. "It's your duty! It was a crucial part in history; anything could go wrong!"

"Yes," the other side of her, the side that had fought the daleks, said, "but it's also your duty not to interfere! You know you will! It may not seem like it, but this decision could change the future of the human race!" Ace scoffed out loud, "Yeah right."

She had been absentmindedly drumming her fingers on the massive motorbike beside her. Finally, she came to a conclusion. Before she changed her mind, she set the co-ordinates and swung her leg over the bike, inserting the key and revving it up. She closed her eyes against the increasingly bright, white light that engulfed her and kept her thumb firmly against the forcefield stabilizer. A sudden lurch of the Time Vortex sent her and the bike flying backwards. That had never happened before! Something was wrong. Without warning, the bike jolted again. Someone was making a rift! She had to stop the bike, but the emergency stop button was just that little bit too far for her to reach. It was on the same side of the bike handles as the forcedfield stabiliser. If she let go of that, well, who knows? She could die, or just be badly injured. Her other choice would be to let go of the other handlebar, causing her to lose balance and crash into the wrong time zone. She made her choice. She let go of the other handlebar and pressed the little red button that could cost her life. The bike steered wildly off-course. She fell out of the time vortex and off the bike and crashed. She rolled to her left just as her bike came down and crashed next to her, just missing her. One of the wheels had come off and fell out of the Vortex, hitting her badly on the head, then everything went black.


	2. Wiltshire

**Disclaimer: Ace is not mine, but Eowynn is, and I DID NOT STEAL HER FROM _LORD OF THE RINGS_, no matter what Chloe tells you!**

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Ace's eyes fluttered. She heard voices. Human voices, speaking another language. It wasn't German, and for some reason she knew that it _should've_ been German. She couldn't remember where she was supposed to be. Then it clicked. 1914 AD. The start of World War I. She checked her watch. It wasn't really a watch; it just looked like one. In truth, it was a time measurer. She held down the knob on the side. She read the reading.

_Date: Unknown_

_Location: Wiltshire, Southern England, Great Britain, Earth_

_Local Language: Old Earth Welsh_

Ace stared at the reading with frustration and fear. That had never happened before. She had never gone so far back or so far forward in this time zone that there had been no reading. Her time hopper couldn't travel before or after 'AD.' She pressed the knob again. Once again, flashed the word _Unknown_.

"What's wrong with this thing!" she slapped the watch. Suddenly the reading under _Date_ changed from _Unknown_ to _3100 BC_. Ace grinned.

"Wicked! Ouch!" she clapped her hands to her forehead. Bandages were wrapped carelessly around her head, but something warm and sluggish was seeping from underneath them. Blood. She sat up quickly to see where she was, but someone pushed her head back down onto the pillow. She let her pupils dilate in the darkness. A girl of about sixteen was standing beside her. She was speaking very fast in Welsh. Ace held a hand up before the girl, palm facing out. The girls' eyes widened. Her speech became slower and scared sounding.

"Shush! Wait a sec, I need to do something!" she knew the girl wouldn't understand her, but she stopped talking immediately. Once again, she looked at her watch and tapped the words on the touch-screen marked _TRANSLATE_. A rush of words appeared.

_Are you fine? You fall from sky! Colours, many colours. Stone horse crash beside. Round head hit. Blood! Blood! Much blood come. You hurt, we find. We take to tent. In tent, you sleep. Soon we take to stones. Magic, healing stones. Stones being made. Come from Otherworld!_

"Bloody literal translation!" Ace muttered. More words appeared and Ace assumed that the girl must have said them after Ace had put her hand up.

_You! Otherworld you come. Mama tell stories. You are from the Otherworld. You watch over Time!_

Ace's eyes widened. No one knew her! Let alone a sixteen year old girl from Wales in 3100 BC! She had to speak to the girl. On her watch's tough screen she pressed _AUTOMATIC TRANSLATE_. Now, whatever she said, the girl would hear as Welsh and whatever the girl said, Ace would hear in English. It was a bit of technology the Doctor had given her from the TARDIS. She checked it again to make sure it was working.

"What's your name?" Ace asked the girl. The girl looked cautious.

"Eowynn. You speak normal now?" Ace nodded.

Eowynn began pacing. "You cannot be here! As soon as they know you come from the Otherworld, they will capture you!" Ace frowned.

"Who are 'they'?"

"My family," Eowynn replied. "The Stone Bringers. We bring the Stones to Willtshire to heal people and animals. So many are sick or injured. There was a great battle. England fighting Wales. The English won against us. Bringing the Stones is dangerous. We are entering England without a permit. We may be attacked."

Ace grinned inside. _Finally! _She thought. _Something for me to do!_

"I could protect you!" Ace piped up.

Eowynn laughed. "My father is far bigger **and** stronger than you! I think he can look after himself!"

But Ace wasn't going to give up easily. "Let me fight him! Tomorrow morning, I'll fight him. If he wins, I'll leave you; but if I win, I'll protect you!"

Eowynn was still giggling, but agreed, and went to tell her father in the next tent. When she came back in, she looked at Ace gravely, and nodded.

The fight was on.


	3. The Fight

**Disclaimer: Ace is not mine, the rest of the characters are! I DID NOT GET EDWARD OR JAMES FROM TWILIGHT! I originally wrote this in grade 6 before Twilight was a big thing. I HATE TWILIGHT!**

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The next morning, they were given a very small breakfast of boiled chicken eggs, scooped out with any rocks or sticks they came across. Ace was sharing with Eowynn, where as the others had to share between four. Eowynn's father did not attend breakfast. He had eaten five eggs before anyone else had woken up. Now he was preparing himself for the fight.

Before breakfast, Eowynn had told Ace all the names of her brothers and the rest of the family. There was a large boy called Thomas, who was greedily eyeing his mother's egg. Thomas looked about eighteen. James was a younger boy, about twelve, who was small and scrawny. He was paying no attention whatsoever to his egg and was trying to catch a fly that was buzzing round the tent. George was another boy of about twelve. He did not seem to know the egg was there, though he _was_ egging James on. The last boy, Edward, looked about fifteen and was the only child actually eating his egg. Ace watched with disgust as he forced a flat stick in the egg, pulled out half of it and stuffed it into his mouth talking all the while as bits of the egg fell out and were then vacuumed up by the rats at their feet. Eowynn's mother was a kind, but strict woman in her mid-thirties. She had blonde hair and was called Anne. The woman she was talking to must have been Anne's mother-in-law. Gwenn was about seventy (a spectacular achievement for someone in this time) and had long, curly white hair, which came to her waist. Her eyes must have once been brown, but were now white with cataract.

"Anne!" Someone cried out from one of the tents. All went quiet. It was time for the fight.

Anne looked at Ace. "Come on, girl. We're going to the field. What's your name?"

Ace didn't look at her when she replied.

Anne frowned then said, "How old are you?"

"Thirty-one, I think," Ace still didn't look at her. They got to the field and Ace had to refrain from dropping her jaw. When Eowynn had said that her father was a big man, she hadn't been joking, he was huge! He stood there, glaring down at her. He was at least seven feet tall and smelt horrible! Ace could smell alcohol, sweat, blood and worse things she couldn't even name! He was wearing many rotted animal skins that added to the stench. On his head was a helmet made of a boar's skull. When he saw Ace, he burst out with laughter. She must have looked tiny compared to him! She never had been very tall. He stopped laughed and let Anne speak.

"This is Ace, Gregory."

"You done much fighting?" he growled in a low, rusted voice.

Now it was Ace's turn to laugh. "More than you can dream of."

"Let's start, then!" He raised a bat.

"Wait!" Ace raised her palm. Everyone gasped except Gregory. "No weapons! Just our strength." She took off her pack and he dropped his club.

He grinned stupidly, "Not that you **had** any weapons!" Ace raised an eyebrow.

He took a blow at her. She ducked. She kicked out at him with her steel-capped boots. It landed in his stomach. He winced and gripped his enormous bell. He swung wildly at her, missing again and again until his hand cam in contact with hers. Sweat beaded both their brows as Ace forced his hand towards him and he forced it back. He suddenly let go. Instead of her falling forwards, as he had expected, her fist slammed into his face. The look on it was a look that promised Ace a very gruesome death. They stood for a moment, just staring at each other. Ace could see Gregory tensing up, about to swing back into action when an arrow came flying down from the hills around them. Bandits!


	4. Bandits

**I found it! **_**Finally**_** found the folder that this story was in. Slack for losing it, I know, but I found it, so it's all good! Once again, I don't own anything. So sorry to everyone for this.**

Bandits came flooding down from the hills. There were at least forty of them. Anne, Eowynn and Gwenn ran into the tents to hide. Gregory was unconscious and being tied up by two of the bandits.

"Run!" Ace was yelling to the boys. "Get the others and run!" They didn't run. They kept fighting.

"Father told us to protect the stones with our lives!" shouted Thomas. "So that's what we're going to!" A bandit swung a knife at him, creating a scar from his ear to the corner of his mouth. The bandit then hit him in the head with a hard stone, knocking him out. James was also unconscious, but strangely pale and stiff. George saw this and howled with rage and grief, pulling him behind a stone that had fallen from the cart with one hand and fending the bandits off with the other. She ran to help him but saw Edward, who was being severely beaten by at least twelve bandits. Blood was pouring from his lip and a scar ran down his back. Fury boiled within her. She ran to him and knocked out all twelve bandits, most of which with her steel-capped boots, and pulled him into the tent with the others.

"Stay in there! I know what to do!" Gregory was nowhere in sight and everyone was in the tents. She scanned the field and spotted her pack. She sprinted to it, took out a full 7L bottle of coke and packet of mentos. Not exactly her most intelligent chemistry experiment, but all she had on hand. She opened the bottle lid and tipped in all the mentos then closed it and shook it up until she felt the liquid trying to force its way out. She threw it on the ground and reached the tent just in time before it exploded, showering everyone with coke. She laughed, but when she turned around she immediately ceased. All the others had been tied up by two of the bandits who were looking very pleased with themselves. They grabbed her and also tied her up. Then they marched them all across the coke-splattered field and up the hills to the bandits' camp.

_Well, Ace,_ she thought. _You really screwed it up this time._

She kept struggling, but it was pointless.


	5. The Allseeing Eye

**I am so sorry for how long it's taken to get this up! I kind of lost the folder that had it all written down… But I've found it again! I apologise to my very few subscribers, but here it is! R&R**

When they reached the camp, there were two trees between which a rope was suspended. The family's hands were tied to this rope, which was above their heads. One of the bandits came towards her.

"Put out your hands," he ordered.

"Oh, it speaks!" she snapped back at him. He didn't understand, so he ignored.

"Put out your hands," he repeated. She did so, but unwillingly. His eyes widened.

"Get the leader!" he cried. When they ignored him he said, "the All-Seeing Eye!"

Everyone began to panic. Ace felt curious. She looked at her hand and her eyes widened. Her right hand was branded. On it was a star with an eye in the centre. The All-Seeing Eye. That was how Eowynn knew Ace didn't belong here. But when had she got it? She racked her brain to remember. Then it clicked! When she hadn't pressed the Forcefield Stabilizer she had felt a searing pain in her right palm. Time had branded her. It had officially ranked her as Time's Vigilante. The bandit's leader arrived.

He spoke to the bandit who had looked at her hands. "Where is the eye, Samuel?"

Samuel pointed at Ace. He examined her hands. She did not flinch. He pulled away.

"She is a watcher of the heavens," he said to them all.

"_She_ has a name!" Ace snapped. He ignored.

"She shall be given your tent, Samuel." He turned to Ace. "You will be escorted to your tent."

She laughed. "No, thanks! I'd rather be a prisoner of you people than a guest! Or worse, a _friend_." She said the word as though it was a disgusting disease, then spat on the ground at the leader's feet.

He grinned. "Feisty, I like that." He sighed. "Very well. You may stay with the others, but I insist on feeding you proper food."

"More like stolen food," she mumbled. She let them tie her up and noticed her knot was the tightest of all. They were scared of her.

**Yeah, I know, short. Never mind. I wrote this when I was eleven, so hopefully that is an excuse for its crapness. :P**


	6. Escape Plans

Ace, Gregory, Anne, Gwenn, Eowynn, Thomas, Edward and George shivered in the cold night. Samuel had been ordered by the leader to give Ace a make-shift scarf and gloves to keep herself warm, but she had kicked him before he could reach her. He was still unconscious at her feet.

"How are we going to escape?" Eowynn asked into the night.

"Eowynn, don't be thick!" Thomas sneered. "We're _never_ going to escape!"

Anne gave him a warning look he knew only too well.

"George," Anne said gently, "what do you think we should do?"

George ignored her. He hadn't spoken since the death of his twin and Anne was worried about him, he hadn't been eating the food that Samuel gave him and was starting to look thin.

"Oh, for goodness sake! I understand you're upset and why shouldn't you be? But you can't just mope around for your whole life! I was one of twelve children and they all died! I was the only survivor! Death is a part of life, get used to it!" Anne stopped yelling and burst into tears. Gregory moved towards her automatically and his rope shifted! It slid along the other rope between the trees.

Finally George spoke. "Er, Mother," he laughed. "I think we just found our escape!"

Ace grinned, overjoyed. "Ace!" She pulled herself up to the rope, like she was doing chin-ups, but with her waist up to her hands, and took her knife out of her pocket then dropped down again. She held the knife between her hands, careful not to drop it or cut herself, and cut the rope tying her hands together. She ran to each of them, cutting the ropes until only Gwenn was left.

"Don't bother taking me, I don't have much time left on this Earth."

Eowynn shook her head. "That gives us even more reason to take you with us! We'll take you to the Healing Stones!"

Ace frowned, but swiftly cut her ropes. They ran back to the tents and the boys helped their father load the stones back into the cart. Ace wandered warily towards James' body; worried about what she might see when she reached him. She bent down beside him and took her spare sleeping bag out of her pack and zipped him up in it. She then lifted him up and carried him back to the tents. When she arrived, tears rolled down all the boys' faces and Eowynn's lip quivered. Anne and Gwenn wailed and Gregory stared hard at the body, showing no emotion.

"We take him with us," said George. Everyone looked at him.

Eowynn nodded. "Yes," she said, "we'll take him to the Stones."

Ace helped Gregory and the boys pack up the tents and load them into the back of the cart. There was a long, rectangular box by the Stones. Ace opened it. It was empty, so she placed Edward inside and shut the lid.

"Is there a spare horse I might ride?" Ace queried.

Eowynn nodded. "Flight. He's our fastest horse, but he's a bit tricky to control, so we can't use him to pull the cart. He's the chestnut one with the snip on his nose."

Eowynn walked over to the horses and untied a black pony. She mounted it and trotted over to George, who also mounted. As Anne and Gregory stepped up and sat on the driver's seat of the cart with Gwenn, the others mounted their horses. Then they set off.


	7. The Stones

Six days. They had been riding for six days without saddles. By that time, all the children and Ace were sitting in the back of the cart with the horses pulling the cart, so they were moving much faster. It was night, so they were all fast asleep. Except Ace. She shook Eowynn awake.

"Ace?" she grunted. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," she replied. "It's just I wanted to ask you something."  
"Yes?"

"What are the Stones?"

"Well," Eowynn sighed, "it's a long story. It all began with the Wise One. He grew up in a hut in the middle of a field and had strange dreams. He told of spirits whispering to him as he slept. They told him they were trapped, many suns away. When he grew older they disappeared and didn't come back until he was an adult. By then, they were getting desperate. They told him to bring the Stones to the field so they could come to this world. They could heal us from sickness and injury, even death! So he called upon our father to bring the Stones to make it."

"Make what?" Ace quivered, dreading the answer.

"A Stonehenge," Eowynn whispered. Ace's eyes widened. "Why? Does it matter?" Eowynn asked.

_Oh my God!_ Ace thought. _I've just discovered the biggest mystery of my time! And it's about __aliens__. What else could the spirits be?_

"Eowynn?" Ace whispered. "Did the 'spirits' say their name?"

"Yes," Eowynn yawned. "The Aloegenians." She yawned again and went back to sleep.

_Of course!_ Ace thought. _Aloegenians! The Rift Makers of the Universe. _She called to mind everything she knew about them. _They go into other times and places to take technology and fuel. They're cyborgs, used as slaves on planet Gengelonia. They've been punching holes in the Universe to collect technology to fight the Gath. The Gath used them as slaves because they don't have a physical form. The Gath used their technology to try to invade the planet Strengand. When they failed, the Aloegenians stole their technology. Hey! I actually remembered that! Wicked!_ She thought of ways she could defeat them and eventually fell asleep.

When the morning came, Ace was awoken by the sounds of many people talking and whispering excitedly.

"Is it true? Is she the one?" A boy whispered.

"Of course she is, dimwit!" Another boy hissed back.

"Quiet! You'll wake her!" A woman snapped.

Ace sat up and looked around. The cart was in a sunny field, next to a ruined cottage. They had finally arrived. Eowynn was talking to a girl with raven black hair, Gwenn was still asleep, Anne was talking to a plump woman, with George by her side, Edward was throwing a stick for two wolf-like dogs and Thomas was helping his father unpack the tent equipment. She leapt up, jumped out of the cart, and ran out to them.

"Hey! Gregory, Thomas! Need a hand?" Gregory considered her, but Thomas nodded vigorously behind his back.

"Alright," Gregory scowled. "But don't drop anything! And don't touch the Stones!"

She nodded, but stuck her tongue at him when he turned around. Thomas grinned. Ace took out the remaining equipment and set up the tents.

"Okay!" Gregory yelled at the raven-haired girl. She stumbled, obviously startled, nodded and walked over to the cottage. She held back the fur curtain and muttered to someone inside. Out came a withered old man.

"Are they here?" he croaked. Gregory stepped forward.

"I have them," Gregory chirped proudly. "The Stones are with me."

"Yes," the old man nodded. "Place them on the charcoal lines. And make sure they're straight!"

Gregory nodded, looking disappointed that the man had not given him further praise, and turned to his sons sulkily.

"Do as he says!" he yelled. "You too, Ace!"

Ace ran over to the cart and helped the boys unload one of the Stones, which was incredibly heavy. Sweat beaded their brows. Gregory rolled his eyes and marched over.

"You bunch of weaklings!" he shouted, lifting the Stone and carefully lowering it onto the grass without breaking a sweat. Ace frowned but the boys just gaped in amazement.

Two hours later, they had lowered all the Stones and were carrying them to the charcoal lines. Another hour later they had finished. Eowynn's dark-haired friend came over.

"Hello," she muttered unblinkingly. "Dorothy, wasn't it?"

Ace stared. How could she have known! "How did you…?" she began.

"Girl!" A man barked. The girl jumped.

"I'd better go. Bye!" said the girl. She ran off. Ace turned her head to Thomas, while still frowning after her.

"Thomas?" he looked at her. "Who's that girl with the dark hair?" He blushed and Ace tried not to grin.

"Oh," he replied. "Her. That's Ebony. She's the orphaned granddaughter of the Wise One. Her mother was killed by a wild boar just after Ebony was born. Her grandfather called her Ebony because of her dark hair. The Wise One looked after her well, until the visions came. Then he sort of neglected her. But occasionally he gets her to do things for him."

Now Ace understood. "Of course," she sighed to herself, "She would have grown up on the rift the Aloegenians made. That's how she knows who I am. Either that or…" Her eyes widened. "It can't be! That would mean…" If she was right, everyone was in danger. Including her! She bolted.

"What is it?" Thomas yelled after her. She signalled for him to stay where he was. When she reached the entrance of the cottage, Eowynn grabbed her arm.

"What are you doing?" Eowynn hissed. "You're not allowed in there!"

"I'm saving your neck!" she whispered back. "Listen, Ebony and the Wise One are being possessed by the spirits! Did you tell them about me?"

Eowynn bit her lip. Ace's heart almost stopped.

"What did you tell her?"

"I'm so sorry, Ace!" Tears ran down her cheeks. "I didn't know! I told her… I told her you were from the Otherworld."

Ace closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She then opened her eyes again and made her way inside. Eowynn followed, desperate to make up for her mistake. Inside, no one was in sight, but there was a mirror in the corner. Eowynn stared.

"That's beautiful!" They both stepped over to it. Ace looked at her reflection. The surface of the mirror was a deep blue and ice cold. She pressed hard against it and her hand went through.

She could see her hand in the mirror, covered in ice. It was going numb, so she pulled it out. The ice was now melted. Intrigued, she pushed her hand through again. Her reflection smiled when Ace hadn't. She felt, and saw, her reflection pull her hand. She knew she had to find out what was happening, so she stepped into the mirror. She bit her lip, so much it bled, to stop herself screaming with the pain of the ice compressing around her. Finally, it stopped. She looked around and saw the deep blue grass and sky, streaked with dark purple. Gengelonia.


	8. Gengelonia

Ace fell to the ground, breathing hard and covered in melted ice. She heard the sound of Eowynn coming through. It was like sand being thrown onto a calm lake. Eowynn was moaning and tears were streaming down her face. Ace helped her up and looked into the mirror. Her reflection was now in her world and she in its. This was bad. Very bad.

Eowynn crawled over to the mirror, frowning into it. "Ace?" she whispered. "What just happened?"

"Well," Ace replied, exhaling deeply. "I can't be certain, but I think that was a pan-dimensional bio-physical transfer. In other words, the Aloegenians saw us, downloaded themselves into our minds, borrowed some DNA, and swapped places with us."

Eowynn gaped. "How do you remember those things?" Ace opened her mouth to speak. "Actually, Ace," Eowynn began, "don't answer that." Ace nodded once, grinning.

Without warning, they heard a scream that pierced the purple-streaked sky. Ace sprinted towards it, followed by Eowynn. She stopped when she came to the place it seemed to have come from. Nobody was there. The view was that of a marsh. The only way Ace could tell it was a marsh, rather than just more ground, was because it was just one shade lighter than the normal ground.

"Subtle," Ace nodded approvingly.

"Subtle enough to get stuck in," Eowynn hinted.

"Oh! Yeah. Right, sorry!" Ace agreed. She slid her arm out of her bag strap, catching it, then reached inside for a small canister. "Nitro-9," she grinned. "With just a hint of Palivue Positive Extract! Nice!"

She spotted Eowynn's questioning face. "It's a bang, Eowynn," Ace explained. "A really big bang."

"You can't!" Eowynn protested. "You'll kill them!"

"No, I won't," Ace argued. "Because Palivue Positive cancels out the explosion on living things. It'll just blow up the bog. Palivue Negitive does the opposite."

Eowynn nodded warily. Ace fiddled with the canister for a few minutes, then stopped. She put up a finger. One. She put up another finger. Two. She put up another. Three! She threw the canister into the bog and dived for cover as blue mud flew everywhere.

When it stopped, Ace ran out. At the bottom of where the bog used to be were two people. A man in his early twenties and a fifteen-year-old girl whom Ace recognised well.

"Ebony!" Eowynn cried in surprise.

"Get me out of this!" Ebony screamed back. "And him!"

"Who's he?" Eowynn whispered as Ace pulled him out.

"Ttt!" Ebony scoffed. "The Wise One! Some Wise One if he leads us into a bog!"

Eowynn frowned. "But," she began, "the Wise One is at least eighty years old. _He _couldn't be older than thirty!"

"Yeah. It's odd," Ebony explained. "In this world, we don't seem to age."

Ace grinned. "If that's the case," she muttered, "then I know a lot of people who wouldn't mind living here."

"It's not that great," Ebony shook her head sadly. "You still age, you just can't see it. Our friend was brought here at six and has been here for ninety years. He died a week ago and went back to his own world."

"Hold on," Ace cried, "that makes sense! Aloegenian bodies live for 200 years, but when they have a human inside them, they only last 90. They're creating Stonehenge so that they can expand the rift. Enhance it. We've got to stop them!"

"But how?" Eowynn asked.

"Wait," Ebony mused, "if the host or controller dies, we go home, so they must come here!"

"We can't kill ourselves!" Ace protested.

"No," Eowynn agreed, "but we can kill _them_!"

"What?" Ace asked. "Oh, I get it! These aren't our bodies!"

"That's right!" Eowynn nodded. "But we can still feel their pain!"

Ace nodded. "But these things are robots, meaning they have an 'off' switch." She laughed, "Even on other planets…"

"Yes," the Wise One spoke for the first time in an old croaky voice, "but they can still turn themselves on again and control millions."

"That's why it's good this planet's so small," Ace replied. "We can call any others like us _to_ us. With this." She took out a small device.

"One. Two Three!" Ace flicked the 'on' switch and robots came zooming towards her. At least a hundred!

"Okay!" she yelled. "We know you want to go home, we know you miss it. And we can send you home!" A cheer erupted. Ace even heard sobs of joy and relief. "All you have to do is hold still. Does anyone know if there's a control panel anywhere?"

"There's one in that glass hut by the bog," a small humanoid child piped up.

Ace raced towards it. The panel had five thousand switches but only 112 of them were on. There was a microphone in the corner. Ace used it.

"Hold still!" she boomed. The 112th switch had just been turned on. Hers.

She flicked ten of the switches to 'off.' She had three minutes before the Aloegenians turned back on. She flicked off ten more switches and another ten and another until only two were left. Hers and Eowynn's. She flicked Eowynn's and reached for hers. As her own turned off, five more turned on.


	9. Axe and Knife

Ace opened her eyes and found she was lying on her back, looking up into the face of Gregory. She remembered what she had to say.

"Five more…" Ace muttered. "No! Eowynn! We've got to go back!"

She tried to get to her feet. A firm hand that belonged to Gregory pulled her up by the scruff of her neck and would not let go. She struggled against it but his other hand also made its way to her throat. She bit it and someone laughed.

"Think she can fight us, eh?" It was Anne, "Think again!"

"Funny," Ace retorted, knowing what she was doing was stupid, "I didn't know Aloegenians _could _think!"

Anne hissed. Gregory's grip tightened.

"No!" It was the voice of Thomas. "We need her! She's the only one alive who can legally travel in this time sector now the Time Lords are gone. And we don't want the authorities on our tail, we've got enough to deal with!" Gregory let her go.

"So that's why you want me!" Ace spoke. "But why tell the people you could heal them?"

"We needed the bodies," now Edward was speaking, "and that's just what they provided. Of course, with us controlling them, the humans thought we _had_ brought their dead back to life. It was hilarious!"

Ace felt sick. "Hilarious? It's disgusting! But you wouldn't know that, would you? Cyborg!"

She watched as the family hissed with rage. Anne ran towards her and Ace swiped another canister out of her bag and removed the lid, spraying it in Anne's eyes. She screeched with pain. Bleach.

"Feel that pain? Bet you haven't felt anything like that for a while! Did you know bleach sends Aloegenians and their download chips into permanent shut-down?"

Anne froze with horror. She then fell to the floor, unconscious. Ace held the spray canister like a gun.

"Anyone else want a shot?" she exclaimed. Gregory grabbed an axe and cornered her against one of the Stones.

"Ha!" he laughed. "Household bleach isn't gonna help you here! Kill me and he falls onto you, stabbing you with the axe. Or he could fall back and drop the axe on himself."

Ace tried to escape under Gregory's arm, but George stopped her. In his hand was a knife.

"Nice try," he sneered.

He lunged, thrusting the knife at her, but she ducked and bolted. His blow hit the stone and Gregory swung the axe. It hit the rock and caught on Ace's jacket. She struggled free and ran for her life, but she had a plan.

Ace ran into the Wise One's cottage. As expected, a new Aloegenian stood before her, guarding the portal. It was Eowynn.

"Not you again!" Ace exclaimed. She sprayed the bleach into the Aloegenian's mouth. Eowynn passed out.

"Eowynn!" Ace shook her. "You've got to wake up _now_!"

It worked. Eowynn groaned and Ace helped her to her feet. Eowynn was about to yell with shock, but Ace stopped her.

"Eowynn!" Ace whispered. "I'm not an Aloegenian! But your family are. They're coming and will be here any second. Pretend you're still one of them and have controlled me." Ace froze just as the family entered. She began staring into mid-space and was very grateful that she had won the staring competition with Leonardo de Vinci.

"You!" Gregory barked at Eowynn. "What is your catalogue number?"

Eowynn tried not to look frantic. "It has not yet been assigned," Ace interrupted. "It was just recently made." Ace crossed her fingers.

"Very well," Edward pursed his lips sourly. "Have you converted _her_?" He nodded towards Ace. Ace's head twitched with the smallest of nods.

"Affirmative," Eowynn squeaked.

"I suggest," Ace cut in, "that you visit her on Gengelonia. When last she was converted, she sent all other captives to their home planets. We must keep an eye on her."

"But how?"

"Easily," Ace replied. "She has in her possession many explosives, including nitro-glycerine with Palivue Positive extract and an explosive range of ten cubic inches, human terms. With that we can annihilate my switch. She will never return to her human form. I will be proud to stay in this form and represent us through time and space!"  
"I admire your bravery," Thomas nodded. "Not many would be willing to stay in one form.

Ace bowed her head, eyes closed, and was glad for a chance to blink. She then continued staring.

"We will need to inform the council and take a vote," Gregory pointed out. "Others may want the position."

"We will leave at once," George nodded.

"But sir!" Eowynn interjected. "What about the… the… the pan-dimensional bio-physical transfer?" She grinned with pleasure at remembering. George laughed.

"No one can leave the planet without a pass code, as you know!" He began eyeing her suspiciously. Ace noticed.

"Let's be off," she pressed, slightly nervous.

"Why are you so anxious?" Thomas asked, curiously.

"I've never come back before, not successfully anyway. I always transfer instinctively." She forced herself to blush.

"Do not be ashamed," Thomas laughed. "You are new. I will disable the transference machine."

"Thank you," Ace replied.

"After this," Thomas said solemnly, "it will be I thanking you."

_I don't think so! _ Ace thought.

They set off and Eowynn struck up a conversation.

"My liege," she began, "I am new and was forced to transfer before being told the plan. What was it?"

"The plan was to attempt to convert all humans," Thomas answered. "Then we would use their bodies and weapons to destroy the Gath."

Eowynn frowned. "The Gath?"

Ace was worried. This would definitely arouse their suspicions. "Forgive her, she has not been implanted with our history."

Gregory relaxed. "Of course." He turned to Eowynn. "The Gath were-"

"Wait!" Edward held up a hand. "She?"

Ace froze. How could she be so stupid? She'd given them away; Aloegenians aren't male or female.

"RUN!" Ace cried.

She and Eowynn ran before the Aloegenians could turn off the transference device. Once again, Ace and Eowynn felt the searing pain as they ran through the mirror. Ace caught herself on the frame of the mirror and panted. She couldn't possibly run anymore. As she ran her hand down the frame she felt etchings. She turned and read the writing on the mirror.

'_To close portal, type in the pass code and flick the third switch. _Rift-Makers' Home Kits Inc._'_

Ace sighed. "I'll bust them later," she mumbled to herself, "but for now I've got to figure out the pass code. Okay, we've got to be logical. Aloegenians aren't very imaginative, so it's probably going to be a year or a date."

"Hurry _up_!" Eowynn cried frantically.

"Okay," Ace whispered hurriedly, "the Aloegenians were created in 4028 AD, It took another two years before the Gath first started buying them and they served the Gath for 32 years. That's 4062 AD. Eowynn, type that in!"

"It doesn't fit! There's only room for two numbers!" Eowynn replied, terrified.

"Wait… Break it down; four plus six plus two, twelve! Eowynn, it's twelve!"

Eowynn typed in the numbers just as their quarry found them. Ace laughed as they were thrown backwards. She and Eowynn ran to the glass hut by the bog.

"Ace!" Eowynn cried. "Where's that Palivue stuff?"

Ace slipped off her bag and rummaged through it. There were no canisters left, just a few explosives big enough to rip the planet in two.

"Uh, Eowynn?" Ace hesitated. "There's no Palivue Positive left."

"Which means?"

"Which means one of us is going down fighting."

"I'll do it," Eowynn whispered.

"No," Ace replied firmly. "Your family needs you."

"And the whole world needs you! And the Otherworld and whatever comes after that!" Eowynn cried.

"I won't let you sacrifice yourself!" Ace cried.

Eowynn shut her eyes. "So how are we going to get out of here?" she asked, as though trying to change the subject.

"My watch has a teleportation device," Ace replied.

She moved her hand towards it, but before she could take it off, Eowynn pressed the screen, which read 'teleport.'

"No!" Ace screamed. She fell, sprawled, onto the soft green grass. She was in the centre of the Stonehenge.

"I've got to stop her!" Ace murmured. She ran into the hut. Before her eyes, the mirror shattered into dust. She walked out of the hut, shocked. Gregory, Anne, Thomas, George, Edward and Gwen were around the body of James, finally having a time to mourn.

"The Stones didn't heal him," Anne explained tearfully. "Their magic is broken."

Ace bit her lip. According to scientific findings, there were bones of animals and humans at the base of Stonehenge; most would have been sick or close to death.

"No it isn't," Ace piped up, "he must have just been dead for too long."

The family look at her. "Where's Eowynn?" Gwen asked. "Where's my granddaughter."

An expression of sorrow and pity crossed Ace's face and Anne's sobs cut into Ace like a knife. "She died fighting. I tried to stop her, but she wouldn't."

"Stay," Thomas sniffed. "You can live with us!"

"No," Gregory broke in politely, "the Wise One and Ebony are already living with us. He said he couldn't live here any longer, in case the spirits came back."

Ace smiled bravely. "I couldn't live with you anyway. I've got to keep moving."

"Yes," Ebony nodded. Ace jumped. She hadn't seen Ebony coming. "The Universe is always moving, and everything in it. Not even the beautiful moon can stay still for too long." She smiled. "Good luck, friend of the Time Lords."

Ace frowned. "How did you…?"

"We must go," the Wise One pressed.

"Yeah," Ace agreed, "me too."

"We can give you a ride back to your horse," Anne told Ace, meaning her bike. Ace agreed.

They buried James and rode to Ace's motorbike, which took less time because they had gotten rid of the heavy Stones. It took Ace half an hour to fix her bike, but when she was done she put on her helmet and set the coordinates. Once that was done, she swung her leg over the bike and revved it up. Before long she was riding through the Time Vortex, where she belonged.

FIN


End file.
